We report initial results of a large radial velocity survey of K dwarfs up to a distance of 50 pc from the solar system, to look for stellar, brown dwarf, and Jovian planets using radial velocities from the CHIRON spectrograph on the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5 m telescope. We identify three new exoplanet candidates orbiting host stars in the K dwarf survey and confirm a hot Jupiter from TESS orbiting TOI 129. Our techniques are confirmed via five additional known exoplanet orbiting K dwarfs, bringing the number of orbital solutions presented here to 9, each hosting an exoplanet candidate with a minimum mass of 0.5–3.0 M Jup. In addition, we provide a list of 186 nearby K dwarfs with no detected close companions that are ideal for more sensitive searches for lower-mass planets. This set of stars is used to determine CHIRON’s efficiency, stability, and performance for radial velocity work. For K dwarfs with V = 7–12, we reach radial velocity precisions of 5–20 ms−1 under a wide range of observing conditions. We demonstrate the stability of CHIRON over hours, weeks, and years using radial velocity standards, and describe instrumental capabilities and operation modes available for potential users.

Context. At high redshift, starburst galaxies present irregular morphologies with 10−20% of their star formation occurring in giant clumps. These clumpy galaxies are considered the progenitors of local disk galaxies. To understand the properties of starbursts at intermediate and low redshift, it is fundamental to track their evolution and the possible link with the systems at higher z. Aims. We present an extensive, systematic, and multiband search and analysis of the starburst galaxies at redshift (0 < z < 0.5) in the COSMOS field, as well as detailed characteristics of their star-forming clumps by using Hubble Space Telescope/Advance Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS) images. Methods. The starburst galaxies are identified using a tailor-made intermediate-band color excess selection, tracing the simultaneous presence of Hα and [OIII] emission lines in the galaxies. Our methodology uses previous information from the zCOSMOS spectral database to calibrate the color excess as a function of the equivalent width of both spectral lines. This technique allows us to identify 220 starburst galaxies at redshift 0 < z < 0.5 using the SUBARU intermediate-band filters. Combining the high spatial resolution images from the HST/ACS with ground-based multi-wavelength photometry, we identify and parametrize the star-forming clumps in every galaxy. Their principal properties, sizes, masses, and star formation rates are provided. Results. The mass distribution of the starburst galaxies is remarkably similar to that of the whole galaxy sample with a peak around M/M ∼ 2 × 10 8 and only a few galaxies with M/M > 10 10 . We classify galaxies into three main types, depending on their HST morphology: single knot (Sknot), single star-forming knot plus diffuse light (Sknot+diffuse), and multiple star-forming knots (Mknots/clumpy) galaxy. We found a fraction of Mknots/clumpy galaxy f clumpy = 0.24 considering out total sample of starburst galaxies up to z ∼ 0.5. The individual star-forming knots in our sample follows the same L(Hα) vs. size scaling relation as local giant HII regions. However, they slightly differ from the one provided using samples at high redshift. This result highlights the importance of spatially resolving the star-forming regions for this kind of study. Star-forming clumps in the central regions of Mknots galaxies are more massive, and present higher star formation rates, than those in the outskirts. This trend is less clear when we consider either the mass surface density or surface star formation rate. Sknot galaxies do show properties similar to both dwarf elliptical and irregulars in the surface brightness (µ) versus M host diagram in the B-band, and to spheroidals and ellipticals in the µ versus M host diagram in the V-band. Conclusions. The properties of our star-forming knots in Sknot+diffuse and Mknots/clumpy galaxies support the predictions of recent numerical simulations claiming that they have been produced by violent disk instabilities. We suggest that the evolution of these knots means that large and m...

GD 552 is a high proper motion star with the strong, double-peaked emission lines characteristic of the dwarf nova class of cataclysmic variable star, and yet no outburst has been detected during the past 12 years of monitoring. We present spectroscopy taken with the aim of detecting emission from the mass donor in this system. We fail to do so at a level which allows us to rule out the presence of a near-main-sequence star donor. Given GD 552's orbital period of 103 minutes, this suggests that it is either a system that has evolved through the ~80-minute orbital period minimum of cataclysmic variable stars and now has a brown dwarf mass donor, or that has formed with a brown dwarf donor in the first place. This model explains the low observed orbital velocity of the white dwarf and GD 552's low luminosity. It is also consistent with the absence of outbursts from the system